PIB TrackerDRDO unveils indigenous tracked and wheeled armoured platforms
New amphibious combat vehicles built around an indigenous 30 mm crewless turret, developed by DRDO's vehicle-research lab at Ahilyanagar.
What happened
- On 25 April 2026, DRDO unveiled the Advanced Armoured Platforms (Tracked and Wheeled) at its laboratory in Ahilyanagar, Maharashtra.
- Both platforms were designed and developed by the Vehicles Research & Development Establishment (VRDE), DRDO's lab for combat-vehicle research.
- They were unveiled by Dr Samir V. Kamat, Secretary, Department of Defence (R&D) and Chairman, DRDO.
- The two vehicles are built to meet the emerging operational requirements of the Defence Forces and share a common base design that supports multiple roles.
- Both integrate an indigenously designed 30 mm Crewless (remote) Turret with advanced mobility, firepower and protection.
- Manufacturing has been assigned to two private industry partners — Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) and Bharat Forge Limited (BFL) — supported by MSMEs, marking a development-to-production handover to the private sector.
Background & context
An armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) comes in two broad chassis families. A tracked platform runs on continuous metal tracks — like a tank or an infantry combat vehicle — and trades road speed for cross-country reach over mud, sand and broken ground. A wheeled platform rides on multiple driven wheels (typically 8×8), is cheaper to run, faster on roads, and better suited to rapid deployment and patrol. Unveiling both a tracked and a wheeled version of the same family lets the Army field one vehicle ecosystem across very different terrain — high-altitude and desert frontiers on tracks, and road-mobile reaction forces on wheels.
The platforms are the product of VRDE (Vehicles Research & Development Establishment), the DRDO laboratory at Ahilyanagar (formerly Ahmednagar) that specialises in the design and engineering of military wheeled and tracked vehicles. VRDE sits within DRDO's combat-vehicles cluster — its work neighbours that of CVRDE (Combat Vehicles R&D Establishment, Avadi), the DRDO lab behind the Arjun main battle tank. DRDO itself is the R&D arm of the armed forces, functioning under the Department of Defence Research & Development (DDR&D) within the Ministry of Defence; the Secretary of that department doubles as the Chairman of DRDO — the post held by Dr Samir V. Kamat. The unveiling drew together a wider DRDO ecosystem: alongside VRDE, the labs ARDE (armament), DMRL (metallurgical/materials), HEMRL (high-energy materials/propellants), CVRDE and R&DE (Engineers) were present, signalling that the turret, armour, ammunition and mobility sub-systems draw on several specialised labs rather than one.
The headline sub-system is the 30 mm Crewless Turret. A crewless — or "remote" / unmanned — turret carries no human inside the turret basket; the gun is aimed and fired by a crew member protected lower in the hull, working through sights and screens. This keeps the soldiers below the most exposed part of the vehicle, frees internal volume, and lowers the silhouette. The turret mounts a 30 mm main cannon paired with a 7.62 mm PKT coaxial machine gun, and is configured to launch Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGMs) — giving a single platform the ability to engage infantry, light vehicles and protected armour. That a fully indigenous crewless turret now exists is the strategically significant part: turret and fire-control packages have historically been a heavily imported, high-value layer of any combat vehicle.
The protection level is quoted on the STANAG scale. STANAG stands for Standardisation Agreement, a family of NATO standards that let allied militaries use common specifications; STANAG 4569 in particular grades the protection of armoured vehicle occupants against kinetic, artillery and mine/IED threats on a rising scale (roughly Level 1 protecting against small arms up to higher levels protecting against larger-calibre rounds and blast). Quoting Level 4 and 5 places these platforms in the upper protection band for their class. The amphibious capability — propulsion through water by hydro-jets rather than tracks alone — and the high power-to-weight ratio, gradient-climbing and obstacle-negotiation are the mobility half of the survivability story: a vehicle that can cross a river or a ditch line without bridging support is far harder to canalise and ambush. The modular "base design supports multiple roles" point matters too — a single hull that can be configured for different missions reduces the number of distinct vehicles a force must buy, train on and maintain.
For Prelims
- Entity: Advanced Armoured Platforms (Tracked & Wheeled) — designed and developed by VRDE, Ahilyanagar, a DRDO laboratory.
- Unveiled: 25 April 2026 by Dr Samir V. Kamat, Secretary DDR&D and Chairman DRDO.
- Armament: indigenous 30 mm Crewless (remote) Turret + 7.62 mm PKT coaxial gun; ATGM-capable.
- Protection: STANAG Level 4 and 5 — a NATO standardisation-agreement scale for blast and ballistic protection, with modular all-round blast/ballistic armour. (Higher number = greater protection.)
- Mobility: high power-to-weight ratio from a high-power engine + automatic transmission; strong gradient and obstacle-negotiation; amphibious, crossing water obstacles via hydro-jets.
- Indigenisation: indigenous content currently 65%, with plans to raise it to 90%.
- Industry partners: Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) and Bharat Forge Limited (BFL), supported by MSMEs.
- The DRDO chain: VRDE (lab) → DRDO → Department of Defence R&D (DDR&D) → Ministry of Defence. The DDR&D Secretary is also DRDO Chairman.
- Sister labs in the combat-vehicle cluster: CVRDE (Avadi — Arjun MBT), ARDE (armament), DMRL (materials), HEMRL (high-energy materials), R&DE(Engineers).
Why it matters
The core problem these platforms address is twofold: import dependence and terrain spread. India's armoured fleet has long leaned on Russian-origin platforms (the BMP infantry combat vehicle, T-72 and T-90 tanks), with turrets, fire-control and ATGMs forming an expensive imported layer subject to supply and spares risk. Building an indigenous crewless turret and a common tracked/wheeled base — and pushing indigenous content from 65% toward 90% — moves a high-value, strategically sensitive sub-system into Indian hands, in line with the Atmanirbhar Bharat defence-manufacturing drive, the Ministry of Defence's positive indigenisation lists (which bar import of listed items beyond set dates), and the goal of a self-reliant defence industrial base.
The development-to-production model here is itself the news for governance: a DRDO lab designs the platform, and two private majors — TASL and Bharat Forge — manufacture it, with MSMEs feeding the supply chain. This reflects the post-2020 opening of defence production to the private sector and the build-up of a domestic AFV vendor base beyond the erstwhile Ordnance Factory Board (now corporatised into seven Defence PSUs). The amphibious, modular, multi-role design is operationally significant for India's specific geography — water-obstacle crossing via hydro-jets matters for riverine and coastal sectors, while the high power-to-weight ratio and obstacle-negotiation target the high-altitude and desert frontiers where wheeled and tracked vehicles must each earn their place. A common base across both chassis families also simplifies training, spares and lifecycle support — a logistics gain that often decides whether a platform actually serves.
It helps to place these vehicles in the wider family of DRDO combat-vehicle and armour programmes so the "how many / which of these" pattern is survivable. The recognisable set includes: the Arjun main battle tank and its Mk-1A variant (CVRDE, Avadi); the Zorawar light tank developed for high-altitude terrain (DRDO with Larsen & Toubro); the Abhay infantry combat vehicle technology demonstrator; the indigenous ATGMs such as Nag, the helicopter-launched Helina/Dhruvastra and the man-portable MPATGM; and now these VRDE-built Advanced Armoured Platforms with the indigenous 30 mm crewless turret. Knowing which lab leads which — VRDE for wheeled/tracked vehicle engineering, CVRDE for combat vehicles and the Arjun, ARDE for armament, DMRL for materials, HEMRL for propellants and high-energy materials — is exactly the kind of pairing UPSC tests. These platforms also belong to the broader Make in India / Atmanirbhar Bharat in defence story alongside indigenous successes like the Tejas light combat aircraft, the Dhanush and ATAGS artillery guns, and the Pinaka rocket system, all examples of design-and-build moving onshore.